A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 26

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 970

USA > Montana > A history of Montana, Volume III > Part 26

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Johan Lawler

1381

HISTORY OF MONTANA

to the age of seventeen years, when he left and went to Buffalo, New York, and a short time afterward to Erie, Pennsylvania. Then, after a time, he sought a new home in a far distant region, crossing the con- tinent to California and locating at Grass Valley in that state.

It was at Grass Valley that Mr. Finlen got a good insight into the mining business, and in 1867, when he was twenty years old, he went from that city to Virginia City, Nevada, then at the height of its glory as a mining camp and rich producer of the precious metals. It is probable, therefore, that the bustling and intensive activity of American life, as he saw it, was the inspiration of his enterprise in business. But his genial and companionable disposition, his responsive heart and open hand, to every claim of humanity and his easy assimilation of every mood of the plain people of this country, which is always the expression of the great throbbing soul of mankind, were in- heritances from his race, and among the best expres- sions of them this part of the country has seen.

The last home of Mr. Finlen's parents, Thomas and Elizabeth (Lacy) Finlen, was at Bay City, Michigan, where the mother died in March, 1899, at the age of eighty-four years, and the father on August 10, 1909, at the age of ninety-six. They were natives, also, of Wexford, Ircland, but residents of this country from 1868. In all the different places in which they made their home among the American people they were highly esteemed as sterling and sturdy citizens. Mr. Finlen's grandmother on the father's side was Mary (Dunn) Finlen, a notable woman who lived to an ad- vanced age and made her mark in enduring phrase on . the people around her.

While living in Virginia City, Nevada, Mr. Finley formed an intimate acquaintance with the late Marcus Daly, which soon ripened into an enduring friendship that lasted and grew in intensity until the masterly mining king, one of Montana's great gifts to Ameri- can citizenship and American industrial development and progress, paid nature's last debt. In that city he also became known to William Skyrme and other men since prominent in the larger and upper circles of the mining industry of the world. He engaged in mining with them, and also became a very popular citizen of the community, serving two terms as street commis- sioner and rising to great prominence and influence in the public affairs of the place.

In 1888, just before the territory of Montana was allowed by the federal government to throw off the youthful dress of immaturity and assume the full habiliments and dignity of statehood, Mr. Finlen took up his residence in Butte, and for fourteen years was one of the large mine owners in the district. He operated the Buffalo mine until 1892, then the Ramsdel Parrot for four years and later the Minnie Healy. These properties were all held by him under lease and bond and became famous under his development, usual- ly while in his control, having a working force of five or six hundred men. In 1900 he disposed of his min- ing interest in Butte, having in 1895 purchased the McDermitt Hotel which has since been known as the Finlen and which he conducted for one year before his death. It is now conducted by his son. For several years Mr. Finlen owned a fine stud of race horses, to the purchase and development of which he gave much time and attention. They all came from the famous Marcus Daly stock farm. For several years he made his home in New York and had a stable at Gravesend. After locating at Butte Mr. Finlen soon became an influential force in the affairs of this city, and in the first session of the state legislature was made sergeant-at-arms of the house of representatives. He took a prominent part in the fight for the location of the state capital, favoring Anaconda because of his

warm friendship for. Marcus Daly, the champion of that city in the contest, and showed himself a warrior worthy of any opponent's steel. When the final test came he was a member of the legislature from the county which gave the deciding vote in the long, agi- tating and state-wide struggle.

Mr. Finlen was largely successful in his mining projects, prospered in all his other lines of business, managed all his affairs with judgment and accumu- lated a considerable estate. He invested in Butte real property on a rising market, and at the time of his death owned the Finlen Hotel and other houses and lots of value in the city. He was recognized as one of the men of large substance in a worldly way in the city, and was universally esteemed as one of Butte's most progressive, public spirited, enterprising and use- ful citizens.

When the hour of his demise approached the people of the city of all classes showed the high appreciation in which they held him. His final illness lasted many months, and he knew throughout its continuance that its end meant his death. But the courage and sturdy qualities of elevated manhood that had been prominent in his whole career sustained him and became conspic- uous. To his devoted wife, who watched constantly at his bedside day and night, he was ever tender and considerate, easing her sorrow with cheering words, and to the friends who called to see him in great numbers he talked with the utmost strength and en- couragement. His brother, Patrick Finlen, died several days before he did, and as his death was expected every hour, the body of the brother was withheld from burial in order that both might be laid to rest together. After the death of Miles the bodies were laid in state, side by side, in the Finlen Hotel, and hundreds of sorrowing friends of both men came to view them and pay their last respects to the departed.

The funeral services took place at St. Patrick's Catholic church, where solemn high mass was solem- nized over the remains of the brothers. The pall bearers, honorary and active, were selected from the intimate friends of the brothers who had known them for many years, and the lodge of Knights of Columbus and the Butte Lodge of Elks, to both of which Miles Finlen had belonged, attended with almost their full membership. The brothers were buried in St. James Cemetery, Bay City, Michigan.

Mr. Finlen was married in Virginia City, Nevada, on June 30, 1872, to Miss Ellen Turner, the daughter of John and Margaret (O'Sullivan) Turner, natives of County Cork, Ireland. Mrs. Finlen's grandpar- ents were John and Ellen (Roche) Turner, and her great-grandmother was Mary Luddy, a matron who has an honorable place in local Irish history. Mr. and Mrs. Finlen had two children, but one of whom is living, their son, James Finlen, who was born in Virginia City, Nevada, on April 14, 1873. He married Miss Mary Ivers, of Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of James Ivers, of that city. One child has been born of the union, James Ivers Finlen, who is now attending school in Butte.

The other child in the Finlen household was a daughter named Elizabeth, who was born in Virginia City, Nevada, on June 23, 1875, and died there on September 19, 1878. Miles Finlen was reared as a Catholic and was always devotedly attached to his church and zealous and effective in its service. The congregation to which he belonged never had, during his connection with it, an undertaking in which he did not take an earnest, practical and serviceable in- terest, equal if not superior to that of any other mem- ber of the parish. In fact, he never did anything by less than his whole force, and he has passed into history in Butte as one of the city's best, most enter- prising and most useful citizens.

1382

HISTORY OF MONTANA

HENRY L. MEILI. As the first under sheriff of Hill county Mr. Meili has an official distinction which will always be associated with his name in the historic records of this county. Previous to the division of old Chouteau county, he was also actively identified with public affairs, has held various offices and places of honor, and has long been known as one of the prosperous and capable business men of this section of the state.

Henry L. Meili was born at Stillwater, Minnesota, on November 29, 1866, but during his childhood the family moved to St. Paul, where he was reared. After his education in the common and high schools of that city, he began his practical career in the offices of the Great Northern Railway at St. Paul. He was a rail- road man for a number of years, and his duties in that line first brought him into Montana. In the gen- eral offices at St. Paul he received recognition and advancement as a young man of capable and faithful performance, and in 1888, at the age of twenty-two, was promoted to chief clerk at Great Falls, Montana. That was his headquarters in this state up to 1894, in which year he was transferred to Havre and continued in the service of the Great Northern at this point for a brief period.

A popular citizen and able business man, he had not resided in Havre long when he was elected to the office of justice of the peace and police magistrate, and appointed one of the first United States commis- sioners, the duties of which positions he discharged for a number of years. During that time he established a real estate and insurance office, and that has since been his regular line of business in this city. He is one of the most reliable and successful real estate men in this part of Montana, and has transacted many of the large and valuable deals, his business being confined chiefly to the high-class land transactions. For some years Mr. Meili has also been known as one of the successful ranchers and stockmen of this vicini- ty. His ranch is located about five miles from Havre, and its activities afford him both a highly profitable and practical business and a means of diversion, so that he spends all his .spare time in superintending its operation. His ranch is considered one of the finest properties of the kind in Hill county.

Mr. Meili was deputy assessor of Chouteau county, and when the county was divided and Hill county created he was the first under sheriff, the duties of which office he performed in addition to looking after his many varied interests in the city and vicinity. In politics Mr. Meili is a Democrat. His fraternal affili- ations connect him with the order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of which he is state president, and the Sons of Hermann. Hunting and fishing are sports of which he is very fond. With a large circle of stanch friends in the state and the diverse business and official interests already enumerated, the career of Mr. Meili has been exceedingly busy and prosperous both for the wel- fare of himself and for his community.

Mr. Meili was the youngest of three children born to Jacob and Barbara L. (Spoerry) Meili, both of whom were natives of Switzerland. His father came to America during his young manhood, and from the East where he spent a brief residence continued on to the Pacific coast, where he became engaged in the gold mining activities of the early fifties. He was more than ordinarily successful as one of the argonants of those times in California, and while there laid the basis of a substantial prosperity. He afterwards settled at Stillwater, from which place he moved to St. Paul in 1871, and finally returned to California to spend his declining years and died there. He was born Septem- ber 2, 1821, and his death occurred September II, 1898. His wife, who was born in Switzerland in 1834, came to America during her childhood with her

parents, who located at Stillwater, Minnesota, among the early settlers of that state; and there she was reared and met and married Jacob Meili in that city. She died in California in 1904, and is buried in that state. Of their three children one is deceased, and the brother of the Havre business man and public official is Reinhold Meili, a resident of St. Paul.

GUSTAVE J. STROMME, a member of the board of county commissioners of Silver Bow county, was born on January 29, 1868, in Norway, and was educated in his native land, where attendance at school for a certain number of years is compulsory on all children. This stimulus to school work was not, however, neces- sary in his case, for he was always studious and pro- gressive, and eager to make the most for himself out of all his advantages. His father, Just Stromme, was also a native of Norway, as was each of his ancestors on both sides of the house for many generations. He was a farmer and died on the homestead in Norway in July, 1908, at the age of seventy-six years. The mother of the ten children born in the family, of whom Gustave was the fourth in order of birth, was Miss Carrie Eide before her marriage. She was also a Norwegian by nativity, and passed the whole of her life in her native land, dying there in August, 1909. The parents were faithful to the limit of their ability to their large family, giving all of their children the best educational advantages they could afford, and supplementing their mental training by good instruction and high examples in morals at the family hearthstone throughout their long and useful lives.

Gustave J. Stromme passed his early years on the farm, assisting in its labors between the terms of. school and after leaving school until he reached the age of twenty. In April, 1888, he came to the United States, and after his arrival in this country, came direct to Butte, where he has ever since resided. He followed various occupations here, working principally in the smelters, until 1905, when he was appointed deputy county treasurer under B. E. Calkins who was then county treasurer. He performed the duties of his office with such intelligence, uprightness and close attention to business that he was marked by the peo- ple who witnessed his fidelity for higher official honors, and in the autumn of 1906, was elected county auditor of Siver Bow county for a term of two years, which he served out in full.

Official tenure did not spoil him, as it does so many men. As soon as he retired from the office of county auditor he returned to his former work, and to this he has adhered steadily and profitably throughout the sub- sequent years. But his public services were not yet ended. In the fall of Ig10 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, and was inducted into the office in January, 1911. He is still filling this highly important office to the general satisfaction of the people of the county, and adding to his reputation as a capable, conscientious and progressive official, straightforward in all his dealings and zealously ener- getic in promoting the best interests of the county.

In political faith and activity Mr. Stromme is a Re- publican, and from the beginning of his citizenship in this country has been active and effective in the service of the party to which he belongs, taking a deep and helpful interest in all local, state and national cam- paigns. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order, holding his membership in it in Mount Moriah Lodge, and to the Woodmen of the World, in which he is en- rolled in Butte Camp, No. 153. He is also supreme president of the Scandinavian Brotherhood in Montana, and is well and favorably known in that organization in this section of the country. Also a member of the Butte Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Stromme was married in Butte, on September 7, 1899, to Miss Jennie Swalde, a native of Moorhead,

Eating Wall

1383

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Minnesota, and the daughter of Ole and Annie (Had- land) Swalde. Mr. and Mrs. Swalde were pioneer residents of Moorhead, where Mr. Swalde died a num- ber of years ago and where Mrs. Swalde resides. Mr. and Mrs. Stromme have one child, Marvel Olivia, who was born in Butte on December 8, 1902.

PATRICK WALL, one of the best known mining and real estate men of Montana, and one whose interests are varied and extensive, has been a resident of the Treasure state for nearly twenty-five years. He was born at Hancock, Michigan, March 17, 1870, a son of Martin and Winnifred (Gleason) Wall, both of whom were natives of Ireland. Coming to America, they located at Hancock, Michigan, where the father was employed in the mines, and where his death occurred when he was about forty-eight years of age. His wife died in young womanhood, being but twenty-six years old when she passed away, leaving him with three small sons. Two of that number yet survive.

In the convent school Patrick Wall remained a stu- dent until he was twelve years old, at which early age he began work in the copper mines in the section of the state in which he was born and raised. Al- though but a boy in years, he was large for his age and powerfully built, and readily became a competent hand. After a few years he went to the Gogebic Range country, and was there employed in the iron mines, becoming captain of the Iron Belt mine when he was but eighteen years old.

In August, 1888, he came to Butte, Montana, and at once secured work in the mines. His first employ- ment of this kind in Montana was in the Wake Up Jim mine at shaft sinking. Mr. Wall was employed in the mines of the Butte district until 1895, when he was made superintendent of the Ground Squirrel mine, then the individual property of Marcus Daly. In about 1897 he went to Philipsburg, Montana, to take charge of the Trout Mine, a position that he filled acceptably until he resigned to join the stampede to the Klondyke country in 1897. He entered the Klondyke country by way of St. Michaels, and was there during the great scarcity of food supplies, enduring all the hardships and privations incident to a life in a new and remote mining camp. He engaged in placer mining with great success, as his previous experience in the mining sec- tions of the state enabled him to secure results where the inexperienced would labor under a disadvantage.

Mr. Wall's Klondyke experience, while eventful, was also highly profitable, and upon his return to Butte he at once branched out in business for himself, be- coming interested in mining properties in the south- eastern section of Butte, that venture being the founda- tion of his subsequent success. For a time he was in charge of the Grant and Hartford mine at Garnet, Montana, but the properties in which he had become interested in Butte had become promising, and his at- tention was now given to their development. He had originally leased a property known as the Dutton shaft, and later purchased it, adding other properties, mak- ing improvements and developments and finally com- bining them, forming the East Butte Mining Company, capitalized at $3,000,000. He remained at the head of this company until 1910, when he disposed of the property to its present owners. At that time Mr. Wall had numerous other mining, real estate and in- dustrial interests in Butte and other fields, and had become interested in the real estate firm of the C. S. Jackman Company, which was succeeded by the present firm of Wall & Jackson, one of the represen- tative real estate concerns of the city today. This firm developed the Grand Avenue addition, one of the most substantial additions to Butte's residential sections in recent years. In this project the firm built more than three hundred houses. Mr. Wall has been probably the most extensive individual owner of automatic tele-

phone stock in Montana, his interests in these proj- ects here including large holdings in the Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Bozeman, Livingston, Billings and Spokane systems. He was for some time a di- rector of the Inter-State Telephone Company, and also of the Silver Bow National Bank of Butte. He has large and varied interests, whose management and care receive his personal attention.

In politics, while he has always supported the prin- ciples of the Democratic party, Mr. Wall's interest is only that of a business man and a citizen, and ceases with the regular casting of his vote. He is a member of the Silver Bow Club. The career of Mr. Wall has been a highly successful one, in which he has had only his natural ability, judgment and enterprise to assist him. He came to Butte as a young man of eight- een years, a total stranger in the western country, without friends or influence, and at middle age has achieved a success that entitles him to a position among the substantial business men of his adopted city and state.

HENRY CLAY SMITH. While there are many men of prominence who have never become identified with that oldest of fraternities, the Freemasons, it may be set down as a fact that this order selects for its official members only those who possess qualities of the highest citizenship and types of true manliness. Hence to have attained to such an exalted office as eminent commander, Knights Templar, means more than high rank, the reasonable presumption being that one so honored by the fraternity is deserving of the confidence of his fellow citizens generally. Among the substantial business men of Miles City, Montana, Henry Clay Smith, jeweler and watchmaker, occupies a fore- most place and in the Masonic connection has served responsible positions for many years. Mr. Smith was born in Monroe county, Wisconsin, March 16, 1872, and is a son of Carl L. and Caroline (Passard) Smith.

Carl L. Smith was born in Pennsylvania, in 1830, and died in Wisconsin in 1893, in the same year as his wife. Her birth took place in Germany and her death in Wisconsin, at the age of fifty-eight years. Of their family of nine children there are two survivors, Henry Clay and a sister, Gussie M., who is the wife of H. W. Zick, residing at Aberdeen, South Dakota. In 1870 Carl L. Smith moved to Wisconsin and was engaged in farming in Monroe county, on his home- stead, until the close of his life. He was a Republican in politics but never sought office. With his wife he attended and gave liberal support to the Lutheran church.

Henry Clay Smith attended the country schools in Monroe county and the Eau Claire high school. In the early part of 1888 he went to Aberdeen, South Dakota, and spent six months working as a farm hand, in the fall of that year coming to Miles City, Montana. It was 1890 hefore he was prepared to begin learning a trade for which he had always had an in- clination, and served an apprenticeship under a jeweler and watchmaker for three years. In January, 1894, he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where, he en- tered an optical college and was graduated in the class of 1895. He then returned to Miles City and went into business for himself and has greatly pros- pered. He has been one of the active and interested men of this city, ever ready to promote public spirited movements when definitely proved beneficial for all concerned, and in the same spirit has accepted public office, serving one term in 1907 as alderman from the First ward and in 1911 being elected mayor. His administration has been exceedingly satisfactory along every line. His political identification is with the Republican party. He has recently erected an office and store building.

On June 1, 1899, Mr. Smith was married to Miss

1384

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Katherine Wilson, who was born in Cooper county, Missouri, and is a daughter of Harvey Wilson, and they have four children: Marjorie A., Henry Clay, Jr., Marshall H. and Cuthbert P.

Mr. Smith's initiation into Masonry dates back to early manhood and there are few members of the fraternity in Montana who are better known in its var- ious branches. He is a member of Yellowstone Lodge, No. 2, A. F. & A. M., of which he became master in 1899 and is serving in his fourth term in this position. He belongs to Miles City Chapter, No. 14, in which he is serving in his seventh term as secretary, having served two terms as high priest; and is past eminent commander of Miles City Commandery, No. II, Knights Templar, and is serving in his fifth term as recorder. He is also grand king of the Grand Chapter of Mon- tana and is grand senior warden of the Grand Com- mandery of Montana and, additionally, belongs to Algeria Temple, Mystic Shrine, at Helena.

DESMOND J. O'NEIL. Montana, symbolizing the west, is a region of young men, of healthy optimism, of unlimited energy. It breeds such young men as Desmond J. O'Neil who, combining the broad view- point which is their western birthright, with an eastern training and education, stand ready to develop to their full capacity the many possibilities of the west.

Mr. O'Neil is a true son of Montana. He was born there and has always lived there except when he was away at school. He was born July 15, 1888, in Glen- dive, and although still hardly more than a youth and just two years out of college, has already proved his ability in the eyes of the citizens of Roundup. He is now county attorney, and if any of the prophecies which his friends make for him can be trusted at all, will graduate from that into many more important offices.

Mr. O'Neil's father, Edmund O'Neil, was born in Ireland and came to the United States as a boy. He first made his home in Wisconsin where his marriage to Katherine Hagan took place. With the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad he came to Montana, settling in Glendive, where he died September 19, 1912. He was a locomotive engineer for many years. They had two other children besides Desmond, John M. and Edward F., who are both married and live in Glendive.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 26

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883- Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 970

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 970